Indicator definition

Energy flows in European Union

The Sankey diagram (Fig.1) shows the energy conversion from primary energy (coal, oil, natural gas, etc) to secondary energy commodities such as heat, electricity and manufactured fuels, through transformation plants (power stations, district heating, CHPs, oil refineries and other transformation plants) and the associated conversion losses. The right hand side of the diagram shows the final mix of energy consumption by different EU27 energy users (including: industry, transport, domestic, other final consumers and non-energy use). Note that renewables in transport for ENER 36 include all biofuels whether sustainable or not. Only a proportion of the primary energy entering the energy system of a country flows through to the end user for consumption. There are various diversions and losses incurred before energy reaches the final consumer due to distribution losses and use in the energy sector. The Sankey diagram is useful in capturing the situation in a certain year but other indicators are needed to show the change in energy use over time.

Energy efficiency of conventional thermal electricity and heat production

Output from conventional thermal stations consists of gross electricity generation and also of any heat sold to third parties (combined heat and power plants) by conventional thermal public utility power stations as well as autoproducer thermal power stations. The energy efficiency of conventional thermal electricity production (which includes both public plants and autoproducers) is defined as the ratio of electricity and heat production to the energy input as a fuel. Fuels include solid fuels (i.e. coal, lignite and equivalents, oil and other liquid hydrocarbons, gas, thermal renewables (industrial and municipal waste, wood waste, biogas and geothermal energy) and other non-renewable waste.

Units: Fuel input and electrical and heat output are measured in thousand tonnes of oil equivalent (ktoe). Efficiency is measured as the ratio of fuel output to input (%)

Energy losses in transformation and distribution

Numerator: Share of energy losses is the sum of own consumption of the energy industry, distribution losses and transformation losses (difference between transformation input and output).

Denominator: Numerator plus final energy available for final consumption in primary energy.

EU-27 Share of primary energy by fuel type and, share of final energy consumption by sector

Total energy consumption or gross inland energy consumption represents the quantity of energy necessary to satisfy the inland consumption of a country. It is calculated as the sum of the gross inland consumption of energy from solid fuels, oil, gas, nuclear and renewable sources, and a small component of ‘other’ sources (industrial waste and net imports of electricity). The relative contribution of a specific fuel is measured by the ratio between the energy consumption originating from that specific fuel and the total gross inland energy consumption calculated for a calendar year (Fig.2).

Units: Energy consumption is measured in thousand tonnes of oil equivalent (ktoe). The share of each fuel in total energy consumption is presented in the form of a percentage.

EU27 net energy imports of solid fuels, oil, and gas from outside the EU27 was calculated as follows:

total imports by fuel minus the sum of imports by fuel from other EU Member States minus total exports (Fig.1)

Units

Energy efficiency of conventional thermal electricity productionFuel input and electrical and heat output are measured in thousand tonnes of oil equivalent (ktoe). Efficiency is measured as the ratio of fuel output to input (%)

EU-27 Share of primary energy by fuel type and, share of final energy consumption by sectorEnergy consumption is measured in thousand tonnes of oil equivalent (ktoe). The share of each fuel in total energy consumption is presented in the form of a percentage.

Key policy question: Is the European energy system becoming more efficient?

Key messages

The EU27 is still heavily dependent on fossil fuels, and it accounts for 76.4 % of primary energy consumption whereas renewables accounted only for 9.8 %. The share of fossil fuels (coal, lignite, oil and natural gas) in gross inland consumption of the EU-27 declined slightly from 83.1 % in 1990 to 76.4 % in 2010.

The EU’s dependence on imports of fossil fuels (gas, solid fuels and oil)[1] from non-EU countries has remained relatively stable between 2005 and 2010. In 2010 EU-27 imported 53.8 % of its total gross inland energy consumption. Oil imports are the highest and accounted for 58.6 % of total GIEC, followed by gas then solid fuels which accounted for 28.8 % and 12.6 % of total GIEC.

In 2010 only 71.5 % of the total primary energy consumption in the EU-27 reached the end users. Between 1990 and 2010, energy losses in transformation and distribution have slowly declined from 29.2 % to 28.5 %.

The average energy efficiency of conventional thermal electricity and heat production of conventional thermal power stations and district heating plants in the EU-27 improved over the period 1990 and 2010 by 5.1 percentage points to reach 51.2% in 2010. The main increase was seen between 1990 and 2005 with an increase of 7.0 percentage points (from 45.4% in 1990 to 52.3% in 2005). The improvement until 2005 was due to the closure of old inefficient plants, improvements in existing technologies, often combined with a switch from coal power plants to more efficient combined cycle gas-turbines. Between 2005 and 2010, there was a slight fall in efficiency of electricity and heat production from conventional thermal power plants and district heating plants of 1.1 percentage points (from 52.3% in 2005 to 51.2% in 2010) because of lower heat production.

Overview of the energy system in 2010

In 2010 only 71.5 % of the total primary energy consumption in the EU-27 reached end users. Distribution, energy-sector’s own consumption of energy and conversion losses represented 28.5 % of which 5 % resulted from energy consumption by the energy sector.

The EU27 is still heavily dependent on fossil fuels (see ENER 26), and it accounts for 76.4 % of primary energy consumption whereas renewables accounted only for 9.8 %. It is interesting to see that over 65 % total petroleum products in the EU27 after transformation in refineries are those refined in the EU27 originating from indigenous production and imported crude oil, rather than imported petroleum products. Subsequently 340 Mtoe of these petroleum products are exported outside the EU27.

A high proportion of the fossil fuels used in the EU27 in 2010 were imported from outside the EU. Net import accounted for 91 %, 62 % and 39 % of gross inland consumptions of oil, gas and solid fuels.

The high dependency on oil arises as a result of high consumption in the transport sector which is still very dependent on petrol and diesel. Increasing concerns for climate change leading to policies shifting fuel use in the transport sector has led to electricity (15.1 Mtoe) and renewables (13.3 Mtoe) consumption in transport, but these are yet to make a significant contribution (see ENER 16). The other sector where oil is the most dominant fuel is in the non-energy use sector where oil is used for example as lubricants. On the other hand, oil only accounts for a small proportion of the transformation input into power stations[2] (ENER 38).

Nuclear heat accounts for 44.2 % of transformational input into power stations (excluding CHPs and district heating), followed by coal (24.9 %), natural gas (15.4 %) then renewables (13.5 %). In power stations, during the transformation of the energy into electricity, 58 % of fuel input is lost as conversion losses. Conversion losses are declining in the EU27 as power station efficiencies and electricity generation from renewables increases (see ENER 19 and 38). As for wind, hydro and solar PV, electricity is the primary energy form of energy so there are no associated conversion losses. The overall % of energy lost to conversion losses from electricity generation can also decrease if the % of electricity generated from CHPs increases. In 2010, conversion losses from CHPs were much less than power stations (33 %), just over 20 % of transformation output of electricity was from CHPs.

In terms of consumption, industries consumed the highest amount of electricity, but only slightly more than domestic and other final consumers (which includes services sector) (ENER 16). Following conversion losses in transformation plants, further losses of electricity occur from distribution and consumption in the energy industry which accounts for (41.2 Mtoe or 14.5 % of electricity available for consumption). In 2010, net import of electricity was minimal (0.3 Mtoe).

Conversion efficiencies of CHPs are higher than in power stations because the heat produced is also consumed as useful energy. In the EU27, heat is also generated from district heating plants in certain countries and the overall heat consumed from CHPs and district heating plants in 2010 was 62.8 Mtoe. Gas accounts for the highest proportion of fuel going into district heating plants (46 %).

The largest consumer of gas in 2010 was the domestic sector (119.0 Mtoe) followed by industries (84.7 Mtoe) (see ENER 16) whereas for coal, the largest consumers are electricity generation plants (power stations and CHPs). Coal and gas are also input fuels for other transformation plants which produce manufactured fuels.

[1] Definitions are provided in the meta data. The Gross Inland Energy Consumption does not include bunkers.

[2] See ‘Methodology and assumptions used for the Sankey diagram’ for definitions of components that make up power stations.

Summaries the overall picture of the energy system in the EU (Mtoe)

Note:The figure is a Sankey diagram which shows the composition of the primary energy entering the energy system of the EU-27 in 2010, and where this primary energy was used, either as losses or as consumption by specific sectors of the economy.

Key assessment

Key assessment: conversion, transmission and distribution losses in the European energy production system

The average energy efficiency of electricity and heat production from conventional thermal power stations and district heating plants in the EU-27 improved over the period 1990 and 2010 by 5.1 percentage points to reach 51.2% in 2010 (49.6 % excluding district heating). The main increase was seen between 1990 and 2005 with an increase of 7.0 percentage points (from 45.4% in 1990 to 52.3% in 2005). Between 2005 and 2010, there was slight fall in efficiency of electricity and heat production from conventional thermal power plants and district heating plants of 1.1 percentage points (from 52.3% in 2005 to 51.2% in 2010) because of lower heat production. Efficiency fell significantly in 2007 to 49.4% (first time efficiency fell below 50% since 2002) The drop in 2007 is due to increased electrical energy output from conventional thermal power stations in UK, Germany and Turkey (see also ENER 19).

The efficiency trend for only public thermal power plants is similar, increasing in most EU-27 countries during 1990-2010, resulting in a net efficiency of 50.4% in 2010 (48.6% excluding district heating). Between 1990 and 2005, the average energy efficiency of public thermal power plants increased by 5.7 percentage points (from 44.6% in 1990 to 50.3% in 2005). Since 2005, the improvement in energy efficiency of public thermal power plants has been much slower, (0.1 percentage points). Autoproducers have higher energy efficiency in general because they are often designed to be more suitable for the heat and electricity demand on a location. Between 1990 and 2005 the average energy efficiency of autoproducers increased by 16.0 percentage points (from 50.6% in 1990 to 66.6% in 2005). There was a fall in efficiency between 2005 and 2010 by 8.8 percentage points (from 66.6% in 2005 to 57.9% in 2010) due to the fall in the output of derived heat (see also ENER 19).

The improvement in efficiency of conventional thermal electricity and heat production in the last twenty years has resulted primarily from technological developments. The increased use of combined cycle gas turbine plants (CCGT) has been an important factor in improving efficiency in the EU-15 Member States during the 90’s. Increased use of CHPs has also contributed to the increasing efficiency of electricity production. The rate of change in efficiency during this time period and the existing efficiency of conventional thermal electricity and heat production varies significantly between the European countries (see ENER 19).

Between 1990 and 2010, energy losses in transformation and distribution have slowly declined from 29.2 % to 28.5 %. Transformation losses represented 22.0% of EU-27 primary energy consumption in 2010. In addition to direct generation efficiency, these losses also depend on the fuel mix (e.g. direct production of electricity from renewables, excluding biomass and municipal waste[1], is not subject to transformation losses in the same way as fossil fuels are), the level of electricity imports and the share of nuclear power[2] (see also ENER 13).

Around 1.5% of primary energy is lost in distribution. This is a slight increase in comparison to 1990, where distribution losses were equal to 1.4%. Distribution losses include losses in gas and heat distribution, in electricity transmission and distribution, and in coal transport.

In 2010, the energy supply sector itself consumed 5.0% of primary energy as part of its internal operations level which remained fairly constant since 1990. In addition, around 6.3% of primary energy products (in particular oil) are used directly as feedstocks (primarily in the petrochemical sector) rather than for energy purposes.

The efficiency of the energy system (the ratio of final energy consumption to primary energy available for end-users) varies considerably across Member States. Energy available for final consumption ranges from 92.8 % for Luxembourg to 48.7 % for Estonia .The low level of losses in Luxembourg reflects a significant degree of electricity imports from other countries (which means that the transformation losses involved in its production are not counted in the country of final use) as well as the fact that a significant amount of electricity comes from high efficiency gas-fired power plants with the remaining demand covered from hydro and other renewables. In Estonia on the other hand, the main technologies used for power generation are low efficiency steam technology thermal power plants running primarily on oil-shale, which explains why more than 50% of the primary energy is lost. In Norway, in 2010, 94 % of the electricity was generated by hydropower (excluding pumped hydro). In Eurostat statistics the conversion efficiency used for hydropower is 100% which explains the high efficiency for Norway (79.7 % of energy available for end users).

Losses from distribution are, on average, the smallest overall, but still subject to sizeable variation between Member States (from 0.2% of primary energy supply for Luxembourg to 4.9% for Denmark). Countries with a high amount of district heating tend to have higher overall distribution losses. This is because losses in heat distribution networks can be sizeable (in the order of 5%-25%). Network (i.e. distribution) losses primarily depend on factors such as network design, operation and maintenance, but also on population density of the country. Systems are more efficient when power lines to large consumers are as direct as possible to reduce the number of transformation steps (as these can account for almost half of network losses - Leonardo Energy, 2008). Increasing use of distributed generation may be one way to reduce such losses

[1] If the municipal waste is used for direct utilisation of heat (or in CHP plants), the efficiency can be high in the order of 90%. If the waste however is used for only electricity production, the efficiency is only about 30%. However, these plants are valued primarily because they offer an alternative for waste disposal so efficiency is not the main goal.

[2] In the statistics recorded by Eurostat the ratio of primary energy to electricity production from nuclear is fixed at 1/3.

Specific policy question: Is the European energy system decarbonising?

Specific assessment

The share of fossil fuels (coal, lignite, oil and natural gas) in gross inland consumption of the EU-27 declined slightly from 83.1 % in 1990 to 76.4 % in 2010. During this period, the share of renewables in gross inland consumption increased by 5.5 points, from 4.3 % in 1990 to 9.8 % in 2010 (see also ENER29) while the share of energy consumption from nuclear increased from 12.3 % (1990) to 13.5% (2010) (see also ENER13).

In absolute terms, consumption of almost all fuels grew in 2010 following the fall between 2008 and 2009. Consumption of renewables grew the most (12.7 %), fossil fuels increased by 2.4 %% and nuclear by 2.5%, only the consumption of oil decreased in 2010 (by 1.0 %).

For the non-EU EEA member states, the gross inland energy consumption increased rapidly during 1990-2010 (+ 70.% or 2.7%/year on average), mainly because of Turkey (+3.6%/year), and the growth did not stop in 2004 as observed in the EU, however, even in Turkey the consumption decreased in 2009 with the economic crisis (-0.2 %). Turkey represents now 62% of the total gross inland energy consumption of non-EU EEA member states[1] (up from 53% in 1990). The shares by fuel in 2010 in non EU-EEA are quite different from the EU average: nuclear represents a much higher share in the EU-27 (13.5% compared to 4.2% in non EU-EEA), while renewables have a greater diffusion in non EU-EEA (18.6% in non EU-EEA compared to 9.8 % in EU-27). The share of fossil fuels is however almost identical (76-77%).

Fuel input into conventional thermal power plants fell until 1993 (EEA, 2012), largely due to the economic restructuring in the new Member States. Between 1993 and 2007, a growth of 21 % was observed, but since 2007 fuel input decreased by 8 % to just above its level in 1990. The increase in fuel combustion during 1993-2007 is primarily as a result of increasing electricity consumption (31.7 %). Since 2007, electricity consumption in the EU-27 has stabilised (ENER16) whereas average energy efficiency of conventional thermal electricity and heat production of conventional thermal power stations and district heating plants (ENER-19) and electricity generated from renewables (ENER-30) has continued to increase. This has led to the fall in the fossil fuel input into conventional thermal power plants.

Efficiency of conventional thermal power plants has improved significantly since 1990, however overall fuel input into can be reduced by increasing the efficiency further. Combined heat and power (CHP) plants that utilise a greater portion of the available heat (e.g. directly for space heating or industrial steam) can reach even higher overall efficiencies of 80-90%. Given the current average efficiency and fuel mix in 2010, if conventional thermal power plants in the EU-27 were to further improve their efficiency to an average of 75 %, 400 MtCO2 can be saved (by comparison, the Kyoto commitment for the EU-15 is about 340 MtCO2).

Despite the fact that more than half of the fuel inputs into conventional thermal power plants (electricity-only plants, heat-only plants and combined heat and power plants) are solid fossil fuels still (52.5 %), the share of solid fuels have declined significantly since 1990 (71 %). Liquid fuel use has also declined from 14 % in 1990 to 4 % in 2010. They have been replaced by increased use of gas and biomass. In absolute terms, gas and biomass input have increased by 164 % and 636 % respectively as a result of increased use of combined cycle gas turbine plants (CCGT) and environmental legislations affecting the economics of fuel use. These fuels tend to have a lower implied average emissions factor than liquid and solid fuels, thus CO2 emissions per TJ of fuel burnt has fallen 8 % since 1990.

[1] Not including Iceland because data post 2006 is not available in Eurostat.

Specific policy question: Are we reducing the imports of fossil fuels?

EU27 net imports of gas, oil, solid fuels and the sum of these, as a % of fuel-specific gross inland energy consumption

Note:All products is the sum of net import of solid fuels, gas and total petroleum products as a % of total gross inland consumption of all products.

Specific assessment

Key assessment: fossil fuel import dependency

The EU’s energy system remains highly dependent on imported fossil fuels (see ENER 26). The EU’s dependence on imports of fossil fuels (gas, solid fuels and oil)[1] from non-EU countries has remained very stable between 2005 and 2010, with 52.5 % the lowest and 54.6% the highest dependency (as a share of total gross inland energy consumption) (see Figure 2). However, the EU27 relies much more on imported fuels compared to levels in 1990 when 45 % of gross inland consumption of all products was from imported fossil fuels. 72 % of the increase in import dependency during this time period arises as a result of the increase in imported gas.

Oil imports are the highest and in 2010, net oil imports accounted for 91 % of oil-based gross inland consumption, the majority of the imported oil is crude oil which is then refined in the EU rather than already refined petroleum products (Figure 1). For gas, 62 % of the gross inland consumption was from net imports. Reliance on imported solid fuel is significantly less and only 39 % of gross inland consumption of solid fuels was from net imports.

Oil imports are the highest and accounted for 59.3 % of total net fossil fuel imports, followed by gas then slid fuels which accounted for 29.1 % and 11.6 % of total fossil fuel import respectively. The share of oil as a percentage of total fossil fuels imported has fallen since 1990 when it accounted for 71 %. This has been as a result of a steep increase in the net import of gas resulting from the increased demand from the electricity generation sector (see ENER 38).

There is a large trade volume of petroleum products in the EU27. In 2010, 314.7 Mtoe petroleum products were imported in EU27 countries, equivalent to 51.0% of total oil-based gross inland consumption. In the same year, 291.3 Mtoe was exported. The resulting net import of petroleum products in EU27 from countries outside EU27 was equivalent to 23.4 Mtoe in 2010 (see Figure 1).

In addition to fossil fuels, Europe imports uranium for its nuclear power industry which accounts for about 30% of the world's nuclear power generation. The EU industry has the capacity for uranium enrichment and fuel fabrication, but is dependent on imported uranium (see also ENER13). The situation is however better (from diversity of supply point of view) than for most fossil fuels, due to the wide distribution of uranium around the globe, in geopolitically stable areas. In 2010, 28% of uranium delivered to utilities in EU27 originated from Russia, 16% from Kazakhstan, 12% from Australia and 11% from Canada.

Biomass imports in EU27 are small. In 2010, net imports as share of total primary biomass supply amounted to 4.9 % and 9.0 % of total imports (IEA, 2010).

The net dependence on fuel imports varies significantly between Member States. This reflects differences in the availability of indigenous fossil resources and renewables (see ENER 26 and ENER29).In addition, the level of crude oil import reflects the availability of refining capacity and direct production of final products (for self-consumption or export) versus direct import of these final products (Wood Mackenzie, 2007). In some cases (for example Lithuania) this leads to high import dependence as a share of primary energy of 149% in 2010 (some refined products are exported). Conversely, for other countries there is limited or no refining capacity (for example in the case of Luxembourg) and hence only final products are imported.

Data sources

Justification for indicator selection

Not all primary energy is available to be utilised as useful final energy for the end-consumer due to various losses that occur within the energy system (in particular transformation losses in the production of electricity and heat). The magnitude of these losses is an important indication of the overall environmental impact (e.g. GHG emissions, air pollution, environmental impacts associated with upstream activities of resource extraction) of the energy system, due to the high proportion of fossil fuels still used. Significant losses occur in transformation hence they depend on the system’s efficiency. The majority of thermal generation is produced using fossil fuels but can also include biomass, wastes and geothermal and nuclear. Associated environmental impacts at the point of energy generation are mainly related to greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution. However, other environmental impacts, additional to the ones previously mentioned, such as land use change, biodiversity loss, ground water pollution, oil spills in the marine environment, etc, occur during upstream activities of producing and transporting the primary resources or final waste disposal. Whilst the level of environmental impact depends on the particular type of fuel used and the extent to which abatement technologies are being employed, the greater the efficiency of the power plant, the lower the environmental impact for each unit of electricity produced (assuming that the increase in efficiency leads to an absolute decrease of fossil fuel input).

The structure of the energy mix in gross inland energy consumption provides an indication of the environmental pressures associated with energy production and consumption. The type and magnitude of the environmental impacts associated with energy production and consumption, such as resource depletion, greenhouse gas emissions, air pollutant emissions, water pollution, accumulation of radioactive waste, etc., strongly depend on the type and amount of fuel consumed as well as abatement technologies applied. Energy consumption by sector gives an indication of which sectors are driving the trend in consumption of different fuels.

Energy supply does have negative effects on the environment and human health. Addressing energy dependency can result in strengthening or weakening these effects, depending on which fuels are being replaced and how the life cycle (LCA) environmental pressures are being addressed (e.g. upstream environmental pressures associated with the production and transport of fossil fuels, downstream environmental pressures related to disposal of CO2 emissions and other wastes, etc). Decreasing the amount of imported fossil fuels on one hand and increasing energy savings and the share of renewable energy on the other, is likely to result in diminishing the negative effects on environment and human health of energy supply and energy consumption as well as improve energy security in Europe (see also ENER 28, ENER 29, ENER 30, ENER 37, ENER 38).

Scientific references:

No rationale references
available

Policy context and targets

Context description

Environmental context

Transformation and distribution losses -Not all primary energy (gross inland energy consumption) is available to be utilised as useful final energy for the end-consumer due to various losses that occur within the energy system (in particular transformation losses in the production of electricity and heat). In 2010, 76.4 % of the gross inland consumption in European Union came from fossil fuels (see ENER 26). The magnitude of these losses is an important indication of the overall environmental impact of the energy system (e.g. GHG emissions, air pollution, environmental impacts associated with upstream activities of resource extraction). The overall environmental impact has to be seen in the context of the type of fuel and the extent to which abatement technologies are used (see ENER 06). Because Europe imports large amounts of fossil fuels to meet the final energy demand, a significant part of the environmental impact associated with the resource extraction remains outside the realm of European policy.

Efficiency of conventional thermal electricity and heat production - The indicator shows the efficiency of electricity and heat production from conventional thermal plants. The efficiency of electricity and heat production is an important factor since losses in transformation account for a substantial part of the primary energy consumption (see ENER 11). Higher efficiency of production therefore results in substantial reductions in primary energy consumption, hence reduction of environmental pressures due to avoided energy production. However, the overall environmental impact has to be seen in the context of the type of fuel (see ENER 27) and the extent to which abatement technologies are used (see ENER 06).

Compliance with environmental legislation (for example the Large Combustion Plant Directive 2001/80/EC, the CARE package, etc.) requires the application of a series of abatement technologies (e.g. to reduce SO2 emissions requires retrofitting the plant with flue-gas desulphurisation technology, carbon capture and storage to capture CO2 emissions, etc.) increasing the energy consumption of the plant, thus reducing its efficiency. This is why it is important to promote highly efficient generation units, such as IGCC (Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle), which can operate at higher efficiencies.

Gross Inland Consumption by Fuel and Sector -The level, the evolution as well as the structure of the total gross inland energy consumption provide an indication of the extent environmental pressures caused by energy production and consumption are likely to diminish or not. The indicator displays data disaggregated by fuel type and sector as the associated environmental impacts are fuel-specific and provides an indication of the associated environmental impacts by the different end-use sectors (transport, industry, services and households).

The consumption of fossil fuels (such as crude oil, oil products, hard coal, lignite and natural and derived gas) provides a proxy indicator for resource depletion, CO2 and other greenhouse gas emissions, air pollution levels (e.g. SO2 and NOX), water pollution and biodiversity loss. The degree of environmental impact depends on the relative share of different fossil fuels and the extent to which pollution abatement measures are used. Natural gas, for instance, has approximately 40 % less carbon than coal per unit of energy content, and 25 % less carbon content than oil, and contains only marginal quantities of sulphur.

The level of nuclear energy consumption provides an indication of the trends in the amount of nuclear waste generated and of the risks associated with radioactive leaks and accidents. Increasing consumption of nuclear energy at the expense of fossil fuels would on the other hand contribute to reductions in CO2 emissions.

Renewable energy consumption is a measure of the contribution from technologies that are, in general, more environmentally benign, as they produce no (or very little) net CO2 and usually significantly lower levels of other pollutants. Renewable energy can, however, have impacts on landscapes and ecosystems (for example, potential flooding and changed water levels from large hydro power) and the incineration of municipal waste (which is generally made up of both renewable and non-renewable material) may also generate local air pollution.

The efficiency with which electricity is produced also determines the scale of the environmental impacts of electricity production and consumption (see ENER19), as it determines the amount of input fuel required to generate a given quantity of electricity.

The impact also depends upon the total amount of electricity demanded and hence the level of electricity production required (see ENER18 for more details on electricity consumption). Thus another way of reducing energy-related pressures on the environment includes using less electricity on the demand-side, through improved efficiency, conservation or a combination of the two.

Fossil fuel import dependency - The environmental impact and fuel import dependency are linked via the fuel mix used to deliver energy services, the level of demand for those services and the form with which these fuels and energy services have to be delivered (e.g. pipeline infrastructure vs. shipping, centralised vs. decentralised energy system, etc.) The level of net imports is determined by several factors including economic issues, the evolution of final energy demand (see ENER16), the efficiency of the energy system (see ENER11) in particular of electricity transformation (see ENER19 and ENER17). It is also strongly affected by the level of indigenous supply as well as the development of alternatives such as renewables (see ENER29). In addition, the need to import fuels also depends on the end-use efficiency (e.g. measures in transport and buildings sector expected to yield significant benefits in this respect (see ENER 21, ENER 02 and TERM27)). The environmental pressures associated with energy production will change depending on the fuel mix used (see Figure 4 and ENER 01, ENER 05, ENER 06, ENER07).

Policy context

The Europe 2020 growth growth strategy aims to address shortcoming of the European economic model while creating coditions for smarter, more sustainable and inclusive growth. One of the headline targets include the objective of increasing the share of renewable energy in final energy consumption to 20% by 2020.

The Directive 2012/27/eu on energy efficiency establishes a common framework of measures for the promotion of energy efficiency within the European Union in order to achieve the headline target of 20% reduction in gross inland energy consumption. Member States are requested to set indicative targets. It is up to the Member states whether they base their targets on gross inland consumption, final energy consumption, primary or final energy savings or energy intensity. This directive has a direct impact on the renewables target since it aims to reduce the final energy consumption, thus making the renewables target easier to reach.

A Roadmap for moving to a competitive low carbon economy in 2050 (COM(2011) 112 final). Presents a roadmap for action in line with a 80-95% greenhouse gas emissions reduction by 2050.

On 15 December 2011, the European Commission adopted the Communication "Energy Roadmap 2050". The EU is committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions to 80-95% below 1990 levels by 2050 in the context of necessary reductions by developed countries as a group. In the Energy Roadmap 2050 the Commission explores the challenges posed by delivering the EU's decarbonisation objective while at the same time ensuring security of energy supply and competitiveness.

On 10 November 2010, the European Commission has adopted the Communication "Energy 2020 - A strategy for competitive, sustainable and secure energy". The Communication defines the energy priorities for the next ten years and sets the actions to be taken in order to tackle the challenges of saving energy, achieving a market with competitive prizes and secure supplies, boosting technological leadership, and effectively negotiate with our international partners.

Council adopted on 6 April 2009 the climate-energy legislative package containing measures to fight climate change and promote renewable energy. This package is designed to achieve the EU's overall environmental target of a 20 % reduction in greenhouse gases and a 20 % share of renewable energy in the EU's total energy consumption by 2020.The climate action and renewable energy (CARE) package includes the following main policy documents:

Directive 2009/29/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 April 2009 amending Directive 2003/87/EC so as to improve and extend the greenhouse gas emission allowance trading scheme of the Community

Decision No 406/2009/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 April 2009 on the effort of Member States to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions to meet the Community’s greenhouse gas emission reduction commitments up to 2020 ("Effort Sharing Decision")

Directive 2009/28/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 April 2009 on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources and amending and subsequently repealing Directives 2001/77/EC and 2003/30/EC ("Renewable energy Directive")

Directive 2009/31/EC on the geological storage of carbon dioxide

Regulation (EC) no 443/2009 of the European parliament and of the Council setting emission performance standards for new passenger cars as part of the community’s integrated approach to reduce CO2 emissions from light-duty vehicles

Directive 2006/12/EC on waste requires all EU Member States to take the necessary measures to ensure that waste is treated and disposed of correctly, sets targets for re-use and recycling, and requires Member States to draw up binding national programmes for waste prevention.

Second Strategic Energy Review; COM(2008) 781 finalStrategic review on short, medium and long term targets on EU energy security.

Targets

The Directive 2012/27/eu on energy efficiency establishes a common framework of measures for the promotion of energy efficiency within the European Union in order to achieve the headline target of 20% reduction in gross inland energy consumption. Member States are requested to set indicative targets. It is up to the Member states whether they base their targets on gross inland consumption, final energy consumption, primary or final energy savings or energy intensity. Some of the mandatory measures included in the directive can be implemented through improvements in transformation efficiency.

The Directive 2009/28/EC of the European parliament and of the Council on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources establishes a mandatory target of 20% share of renewable energy in final energy consumption. This indicator does not directly monitor progress towards these targets but it provides a quick snap-shot of the situation in Europe on these issues.

Related policy documents

Regulation (ec) no 443/2009 of the European parliament and of the Council setting emission performance standards for new passenger cars as part of the community's integrated approach to reduce CO2 emissions from light-duty vehicles.

With its "Roadmap for moving to a competitive low-carbon economy in 2050" the European Commission is looking beyond these 2020 objectives and setting out a plan to meet the long-term target of reducing domestic emissions by 80 to 95% by mid-century as agreed by European Heads of State and governments. It shows how the sectors responsible for Europe's emissions - power generation, industry, transport, buildings and construction, as well as agriculture - can make the transition to a low-carbon economy over the coming decades.

Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions: “Renewable Energy : a major player in the European energy market”

DIRECTIVE 2004/8/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 11 February 2004 on the promotion of cogeneration based on a useful heat demand in the internal energy market and amending Directive 92/42/EEC

DIRECTIVE 2008/101/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 19 November 2008 amending Directive 2003/87/EC so as to include aviation activities in the scheme for greenhouse gas emission allowance trading within the Community

DIRECTIVE 2009/28/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 23 April 2009 on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources and amending and subsequently repealing Directives 2001/77/EC and 2003/30/EC

DIRECTIVE 2009/30/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 23 April 2009 amending Directive 98/70/EC as regards the specification of petrol, diesel and gas-oil and introducing a mechanism to monitor and reduce greenhouse gas emissions and amending Council Directive 1999/32/EC as regards the specification of fuel used by inland waterway vessels and repealing Directive 93/12/EEC

DIRECTIVE 2012/27/EU OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 25 October 2012 on energy efficiency, amending Directives 2009/125/EC and 2010/30/EU and repealing Directives 2004/8/EC and 2006/32/EC

REGULATION (EU) No 510/2011 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL setting emission performance standards for new light commercial vehicles as part of the Union's integrated approach to reduce CO 2 emissions from light-duty vehicles

Methodology

Methodology for indicator calculation

Methodology and assumptions used for the Sankey diagram

The Sankey diagram shows the key energy flows (in Mtoe) for the EU27 based on 2010 Eurostat data (Figure 1). The left side of the diagram shows the gross inland consumption with the net amount of energy imported compared with what is produced indigenously. The diagram then shows energy conversion of primary energy to secondary energies; heat, electricity and manufactured fuels, through transformation plants (power stations, district heating, CHPs, oil refineries and other transformation plants) and the associated conversion losses. The right hand side of the diagram shows the final mix of energy consumption by different EU27 energy users (including: industry, transport, domestic, other final consumers and non-energy use). Note that renewables in transport for ENER 36 include all biofuels whether sustainable or not. Only a proportion of the primary energy entering the energy system of a country flows through to the end user for consumption. There are various diversions and losses incurred before energy reaches the final consumer due to distribution losses and use in the energy sector. The Sankey diagram is useful in capturing the situation in a certain year but other indicators are needed to show the change in energy use over time.

The largest sources of loss are the conversion losses, where a proportion of the chemical energy in the fuel is not embodied in the power or heat leaving the generating plant, but is lost as waste heat not utillised. However, even before fuel is combusted for the generation of power and heat, some of it is diverted for non-energy purposes, for example the use of natural gas as a chemical feed stock in the chemical industry (non-energy purposes). Moreover, once generated some of the power and heat is consumed by the plant operator for the purposes of running auxiliary equipment (consumption of the energy sector), and yet further down the energy supply chain some power or heat is lost as it is distributed to the end user (distribution losses) (both own use in energy industry and distribution losses are shown in a single flow in Figure 1).

The Sankey diagram has been prepared using the 2010 data available from Eurostat (http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/eurostat/home/). The majority of the figures have been extracted from the Eurostat Energy Balances Sheets 2009 - 2010 (available from http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/cache/ITY_OFFPUB/KS-EN-12-001/EN/KS-EN-12-001-EN.PDF). Where data was not available in the balance sheet, data extracted from Eurostat (6th July 2012) are used. These are indicated with asterisks. The primary input fuels have been split into three main fossil fuel types, gases [nrg_103a, product code: 4000], solid fuels [nrg_101a, product code: 2000] and total petroleum products [nrg_101a, product code: 3000]. Total petroleum products has been split further into Crude oil, feedstocks and other hydrocarbons [product code: 3100], and All petroleum products [product code: 3200]. End-user consumption of manufactured fuels, produced from other transformation, has also been split from fossil fuels (Derived gases [product code: 4200], Coke [product code: 2120] and Brown coal briquettes [produce code: 2230]). Manufactured fuels which are then consequently consumed by another transformation step (e.g. CHPs) are not separated from the main fossil fuel categories. c

1. Supply

For each of the fossil fuel, the supply consists of:

Indigenous production [B_100100]; and

Net imports [B_100300 minus B_100500]

The overall fuel supply for each fuel is then also affected by:

Stock change [B_100400] (can be negative); and

Recovered products [From other sources, [B_100200];

Exchanges and transfers, returns [B_101200]

The following are subtracted away from overall supply:

Direct use [B_100112]; and

International Bunkers [B_100800]

2. Consumption

The final consumers are split into the following:

Industry [B_101800]

Domestic [B_102010]

Final Non-energy Consumption [B_101600]

Other final consumers [B_102000 minus B_102010]

Transport [B_101900]

Distribution losses and energy industry use [B_101400 plus B_101300]

3. Transformation input

There are five transformations included in the diagram. The inputs in the following five transformations are:

The transformation processes produce secondary fuels/ energies (transformation output) in the Sankey diagram, namely electricity, heat and manufactured fuels (derived gases, petroleum products, coke and brown coal briquettes). Secondary energies are allocated to end-user consumers categories (point 2.) in the same way as primary energy inputs are, and supply of secondary energies are also affected in the same way as primary energy inputs (point 1.). Note that the transformation output of manufactured fuels from other transformation is not consistent with the manufactured fuels consumed by end-users. This is because a proportion of manufactured fuels are consequently used as input for further transformation (e.g. CHPs) which is not captured in the Sankey diagram. Manufactured fuels consumed by another transformation plant after the fuel transformation are included as part of the input of gas, solid fuels, all petroleum products into these transformation plants. As a result the input and the output from the other transformation plants box do not balance.

Methodology for indicator calculation

Geographical coverage

EU-27 plus Norway, Turkey, Croatia. The Agency had 32 member countries at the time of writing of this fact sheet. These are the 27 European Union Member States and Turkey, Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein and Switzerland. Where Eurostat data was not available, the data is not included in this indicator.

Data sets uncertainty

Imports/exports represent all entries into/out of the national territory excluding transit quantities (notably via gas and oil pipelines). However, data on imports are generally taken from importers'/exporters’ declarations; accordingly, they may differ from the data collected by the customs authorities and those included in the foreign-trade statistics.

In the case of crude oil and petroleum products, imports represent the quantities delivered to the national territory and, in particular, those quantities:

(i) destined for treatment on behalf of foreign countries;(ii) only imported on a temporary basis;(iii) imported and deposited in uncleared bonded warehouses;(iv) imported and placed in special warehouses on behalf of foreign countries;(v) imported from regions and/or territories overseas under national sovereignty.

Simlarly, for exports those quantities:

(i) destined for treatment in other countries;(ii) only exported on a temporary basis;(iii) exported and deposited in uncleared bonded warehouses;(iv) exported and placed in special warehouses in foreign countries;(v) exported to regions and/or territories overseas under national sovereignity;(vi) re-exported after treatment or transformation;(vii) supplied to national or foreign troops stationed abroad (in so far as secrecy permits this).

The efficiency of electricity production is calculated as the ratio of electricity output to the total fuel input. However, the input to conventional thermal power plants cannot be disaggregated into separate input for heat and input for electricity production. Therefore the efficiency rate of electricity and heat production equals the ratio of both electricity and heat production to fuel input, which assumes there is an efficiency rate for heat production. Also, electricity data (unlike that for overall energy consumption) for 1990 refers to the western part of Germany only, so there is a break in the series from 1990-1992.

The share of energy consumption for a particular fuel could decrease even though the actual amount of energy used from that fuel grows, as the development of the share for a particular fuel depends on the change in its consumption relative to the total consumption of energy. From an environmental point of view, however, the relative contribution of each fuel has to be put in the wider context. Absolute (as opposed to relative) volumes of energy consumption for each fuel are the key to understanding the environmental pressures. These depend on the total amount of energy consumption as well as on the fuel mix used and the extent to which pollution abatement technologies are used. Total energy consumption may not accurately represent the energy needs of a country (in terms of final energy demand). Fuel switching may in some cases have a significant effect in changing total energy consumption even though there is no change in (final) energy demand. This is because different fuels and different technologies convert primary energy into useful energy with different efficiency rates.

The estimate of imported/domestic CO2 emissions uses an average EU-27 Implied Emission Factors (tCO2/TJ) for solid, liquid and gaseous fuels.

The IPCC believes that the uncertainty in CO2 emission estimates from fuel use in Europe is likely to be less than ± 5%. Total GHG emission trends are likely to be more accurate than the absolute emission estimates for individual years. The IPCC suggests that the uncertainty in total GHG emission trends is ± 4% to 5%. Uncertainty estimates were calculated for the EU-15 for the first time in EEA (2005). The results suggest that uncertainties at EU-15 level are between ± 4% and 8% for total EU-15 greenhouse gas emissions. For energy related greenhouse gas emissions the results suggest uncertainties between ± 1 % (stationary combustion) and ± 11% (fugitive emissions). For public electricity and heat production specifically, the uncertainty is estimated to be ± 3%. For the new Member States and some other EEA countries, uncertainties are assumed to be higher than for the EU-15 Member States because of data gaps.

Rationale uncertainty

Indicator uncertainty (scenarios)

Scenario analysis always includes many uncertainties and the results should thus be interpreted with care.

uncertainties related to future socioeconomic and other developments (e.g. GDP);

uncertainties in the underlying statistical and empirical data (e.g. on future technology costs and performance);

uncertainties in the representativeness of the indicator;

uncertainties in the dynamic behaviour of the energy system and its translation into models;

uncertainties in future fuel costs and the share of low carbon technologies in the future

Comments

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